Long-Term Conservation Agriculture Training Improves Maize Yields and Soil Health Knowledge Among Smallholder Farmers in Ghana

Environmental degradation caused by unsustainable farming practices has depleted soil resources across sub-Saharan Africa. Conservation agriculture (CA) has been promoted to reverse this damage, yet outcomes remain variable, and the role of long-term training is underexplored. Using propensity score matching with 238 smallholder households across five communities in Ghana, we examine the impacts of long-term CA training. Specifically, we assess whether participation in a training program characterized by repeated engagement and follow-up workshops improves yields, farmer knowledge of soil health, and soil indicators (nitrogen and carbon). Farmers receiving long-term CA training did not exhibit significantly better soil chemical metrics. However, they demonstrated significantly more accurate knowledge of soil health (nitrogen, p < 0.001; carbon, p < 0.05), produced a 10.7% higher maize yield (kg/acre) ( p < 0.001), and reported fewer soil problems, including fertilizer runoff, top-soil erosion, and waterlogging, compared to conventional farmers (all p < 0.05). We conclude that long-term CA training enhances farmer knowledge and maize yields, suggesting it is a critical intervention for improving productivity and farm management resilience, even where direct improvements in measured soil metrics are not immediately detectable. These findings highlight the need for training programs to emphasize the full suite of CA principles and for evaluation timeframes of 5–10 years to capture soil regeneration.